Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Brinda Karat to donate organs

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Brinda Karat were among the 500-odd people from different walks of life who pledged to donate their organs at an event organized by a Delhi hospital on Wednesday.

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NEW DELHI: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Brinda Karat were among the 500-odd people from different walks of life who pledged to donate their organs at an event organized by a Delhi hospital on Wednesday.

While 40-year-old Priyanka could not make it to the event due to some unscheduled engagement, she sent a message to the organizers saying, "You are welcome to announce my name as a donor if it helps the cause."

The authorities of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital read out the message of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter in the donation camp — an event organized for sensitizing people and promoting organ donation. CPI-M leader Karat also pledged to associate herself with the cause, saying, "I am totally supporting this cause of organ donation."

DONATE (The Deceased Organ donation Network and Transplant Education) — the organ donation program was launched by SGRH in memory of late Tej Ram who was chairman of board of trust SGRH, and two more families who donated organs of their deceased members. Tej Ram (87) died on September 3 and donated his organs saving three lives, said Dr R S Rana, chairman, board of management SGRH.

The rate of organ donation in India is only 0.8 per million people, Rana added, whereas it is 17/million in UK and 35/million in Spain. Dr Aarti VIj, head of the Organ Retrieval and Banking Organisation at AIIMS, said if only a fraction of people who had a brain death donated their organs, all the requirements for organ transplantation in India would be met.